3 July ‘06
We decided to throw out our plans to visit Mount Rushmore tonight. They have planned one of the best fireworks displays in the state of South Dakota and we had planned to be there. Since arriving in the Black Hills, we had heard nothing but how difficult it would be to get close enough to enjoy the fireworks at the park. Mount Rushmore is reached by traveling up the mountain from Keystone for 3 miles (straight up) or from the opposite side (where we were camped) in which you have 3 ½ miles of straight up hills. They have told us that “you must consider arriving by 9:30 in the morning so that you will have a parking spot at the memorial. Of course you could park on one side of the road going up the hill, but there is limited parking available there as well. The best option is to “walk” from Keystone or our campground in the 85-90 degree day, and then back after the fireworks are over at 10:45pm… in the dark, with a ton of others bearing down on you with their cars and trucks and all wanting to get home as fast as possible… Tough decision, but that’s the one we decided to do…get the heck out of “Dodge”. We packed up everything this morning and headed further South. Our destination…Hot Springs, South Dakota. We were both surprised by the size and uniqueness of this town. It follows a meandering river with buildings of red sandstone to very old (and new) wood structures. Fact is, most of the “old” sandstone block buildings, were built in another town. Columbia was to be “the” location for the railroad to go through, so they started to build these wonderful sandstone buildings in anticipation of the new “boom”. As it was, the railroad didn’t get to Columbia, and Columbia just didn’t ever get its feet off the ground, so they dismantled those beautiful sandstone block buildings and moved them to Hot Springs where the hot springs were doing great with the “tourist”. In arriving in town, the first thing we had to accomplish was finding a campground. Coming into Hot Springs, we saw a sign along side the road telling us of a campground beside a lake, and that sounded good to the both of us, a home for the night. Detaching “Toad”, we headed off to see the sights of Hot Springs and the surrounding areas. First stop was for our lunch…”Spicy White Bean Chile and half a sandwich of a “Spicy Grilled Turkey”…boy was that tasty…I wanted the recipe for the soup, but didn’t get it. From there, we headed out to see the site were they are excavating the Columbian and Woolly Mammoth. Can you believe it…a WOOLLY MAMMOTH ??? They found this site just by accident when a building contractor started to do a housing project, he dug into this huge tusk. What a find !!! This is a working site where we can not only walk around and see the volunteer “Earthwatch” crew excavate the bones, but we can see just what has been excavated since 1974. It is amazing to look down at these huge bones and tusks that roamed these hills many centuries ago. Another great day here in the USA…
We decided to throw out our plans to visit Mount Rushmore tonight. They have planned one of the best fireworks displays in the state of South Dakota and we had planned to be there. Since arriving in the Black Hills, we had heard nothing but how difficult it would be to get close enough to enjoy the fireworks at the park. Mount Rushmore is reached by traveling up the mountain from Keystone for 3 miles (straight up) or from the opposite side (where we were camped) in which you have 3 ½ miles of straight up hills. They have told us that “you must consider arriving by 9:30 in the morning so that you will have a parking spot at the memorial. Of course you could park on one side of the road going up the hill, but there is limited parking available there as well. The best option is to “walk” from Keystone or our campground in the 85-90 degree day, and then back after the fireworks are over at 10:45pm… in the dark, with a ton of others bearing down on you with their cars and trucks and all wanting to get home as fast as possible… Tough decision, but that’s the one we decided to do…get the heck out of “Dodge”. We packed up everything this morning and headed further South. Our destination…Hot Springs, South Dakota. We were both surprised by the size and uniqueness of this town. It follows a meandering river with buildings of red sandstone to very old (and new) wood structures. Fact is, most of the “old” sandstone block buildings, were built in another town. Columbia was to be “the” location for the railroad to go through, so they started to build these wonderful sandstone buildings in anticipation of the new “boom”. As it was, the railroad didn’t get to Columbia, and Columbia just didn’t ever get its feet off the ground, so they dismantled those beautiful sandstone block buildings and moved them to Hot Springs where the hot springs were doing great with the “tourist”. In arriving in town, the first thing we had to accomplish was finding a campground. Coming into Hot Springs, we saw a sign along side the road telling us of a campground beside a lake, and that sounded good to the both of us, a home for the night. Detaching “Toad”, we headed off to see the sights of Hot Springs and the surrounding areas. First stop was for our lunch…”Spicy White Bean Chile and half a sandwich of a “Spicy Grilled Turkey”…boy was that tasty…I wanted the recipe for the soup, but didn’t get it. From there, we headed out to see the site were they are excavating the Columbian and Woolly Mammoth. Can you believe it…a WOOLLY MAMMOTH ??? They found this site just by accident when a building contractor started to do a housing project, he dug into this huge tusk. What a find !!! This is a working site where we can not only walk around and see the volunteer “Earthwatch” crew excavate the bones, but we can see just what has been excavated since 1974. It is amazing to look down at these huge bones and tusks that roamed these hills many centuries ago. Another great day here in the USA…